Just hours after the melancholy news of former Mayor of Boston Tom Menino’s passing, his successor, Mayor Marty Walsh reflected on the life, legacy and advice bestowed by Menino. City Hall Plaza was crammed with the mayor’s administration, city councilors, municipal staffers and everyday Bostonians to commemorate all Menino has done to make Boston a world-class city.
“I’m joined by the Boston City Council, of which Mayor Menino was a distinguished member of that body for nine years,” said Mayor Walsh of the people flocking him. “More than half of the people of Boston met Tom Menino. No man possessed a greater love for this city.”
Mayor Walsh kept his remarks relatively brief, no more than three and half minutes, in which he outlined all of the aspects of Menino, 71, both personally and professionally, that drove him to transform Boston in such a way that every corner of every neighborhood felt the advantageous effects.
“Tom Menino is a fighter. Tom Menino was a fighter. Tom Menino went down fighting. And we all know Boston stood in his heart number one,” added Mayor Walsh.
Mayor Walsh then went off-script, sharing his personal memories of his predecessor and words of wisdom shared, before answering any questions from the press.
“This was the last concern he expressed to me,” said Mayor Walsh. “He was sitting in a hospital bed, I was on the phone with him and we were talking and he said, ‘You’re going to be a great mayor as long as you take care of the people of Boston and keep the people first.'”
Just spoke with Mayor Walsh’s CoS Dan Koh. “It’s a sad day. Sad day.” Worked with Menino before HuffPo
— Nick DeLuca (@NickDeLuca1) October 30, 2014
A flood of queries then ensued much of which pertained to Menino’s priorities at the helm of The Hub, which Mayor Walsh reiterated above all else was executing basic city services and remaining a man of the neighborhood despite his big-name and high-profile. With an even larger personality, Menino always remained humble.
It wasn’t all sadness and meditation on Thursday afternoon, though. Quite the contrary, in fact, as he surely would’ve appreciated. After all, Menino had a contagious sense of humor and a jovial charisma that never went unnoticed.
“Let me tell you one of the first times I met Tom Menino.” said Mayor Walsh. “There’s been a lot reported of over the last couple weeks about when he’d speak and make fun of himself. I went to his house and I was amazed by how much of a student of politics he was. He had video tapes of Harry Truman but he also had VCR tapes about giving speeches. And he worked at it every single day.”
A college education was not always on Menino’s mind as he worked his way up the ladder of City Hall. He always used to say, according to his father, who pushed him to pursue a degree, “Truman never went to college.”
Menino eventually earned a degree from the University of Massachusetts Boston during his time as a Boston City Councilor representing Hyde Park, moonlighting as a student.
“When I was a brand new state Representative, I had the habit of getting in trouble with the mayor a lot,” continued Mayor Walsh comically. “He would come out with a policy, and I wouldn’t get much press over there so I would talk to a reporter, and then he would see it and I’d get the phone call, which I can’t repeat here today, and then later on he’d put his arm around me and say, ‘just slow down and listen once in a while.'”
No details of Menino’s funeral services have been determined at this time. Stay tuned to BostInno as we’ll be sure to keep you updated once information becomes available here.
